Happy March 2012! I am happy to report that all my students who had individual lessons with me this past year have received auditions at SOTA. I am very proud of their accomplishments, and will continue to help students in my class called Develop Your Art Portfolio at Sharon Art Studio.

Individual Art Instruction
There are a few individual lesson spaces available this spring on Sunday, Thursday afternoon, and Friday afternoon. Lessons can take place at your home, Golden Gate Park, or the SF Public Library.

Spring fee is $65/hour. Refer a friend and get an hour lesson free upon signup. Subjects may include life drawing, cartooning, and portraiture. Call Cara 516-398-6128 or e-mail caragoldstein1@gmail.com

YOUTH CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS

Cartooning for Kids at BookShop West Portal

Do you love to draw cartoons? Learn how to create your own characters with expression, movement, and storyboards. Materials included.
Call (415)-564-8080 to register.
Ongoing: Saturdays, 11a.m. — 12p.m March 10th-May 26th
$45/class.

Youth Cartooning Workshops at Sharon Art Studio in Golden Gate Park

Click here to sign up! Enter the 5-digit course number.

Learn to create dynamic cartoon characters, backgrounds, and storylines. Produce several cartoon scenes and the start of a comic book.

Do you want to go to art school, but need to improve your skills? This class will provide you with the foundations of life-drawing, portraiture, perspective, and the figure. All levels of skill are welcome.
8 weeks in Carousel Room
Wednesday | 4:30-6pm | 4/4-5/23 | #25202fee: $88

call (415)-564-8080 to register
Do you love to draw cartoons? Learn how to create your own characters with expression, movement, and storyboards. Materials included.
11a.m. – 1p.m. February 25th
Fee: $75

Sharon Art Studio Adult Cartooning Workshop

Click here to register! Enter the 5-digit course number.
Are you a kid at heart? We will talk about pioneers of the comic strip such as Winsor McCay and more contemporary masters like Chris Ware, Gabrielle Bell, Lynda Barry, and any artists you’d like to share with the group. We will cover character development, sequencing, movement, panel structure, narrative voice, backgrounds, and inking. You will leave with the start of your own comic book or graphic novel. Beginners are welcome. A materials list will be provided. Bring lunch!
Sunday, 4/22 | 10am-4:30pm | #25868$72 members | $82 non-members
Location: Jewelry Room

My teacher and mentor, Al Baruch, created Captain Hook, Mighty Mouse, and did the artwork for Fantasia. I enrolled in his class at twelve years old, and continued to work with him until I entered high school. His class met at Hofstra University in New York on Saturday mornings, the same time as Saturday morning cartoons. Al Baruch’s class planted a seed that would eventually grow into a lifelong interest and love of comics.

Al Baruch is a sweet man who looks very much like Santa Claus. Al is now in his eighties and still teaching comics in Florida. He has a soft voice and always lights up when he talks about comics. What I learned from him is that when you have a love for something in life, whether it is comics or anything else, you can use it to help others.

I was an awkward kid, unsure of my artistic abilities. Through Al’s guidance in my comics class, I was able to grow as an artist and also as a person. I took my cartoons to a local coffee shop near where my mother worked, and they hung them. That was my first art show. My parents and I went to a frame shop, and I learned how to make my art look professional.

Al always had a steady hand and a crisp line, whereas my hand used to shake. I thought that if I practiced enough, I might be able to draw like him. He always spoke about how fun comics are, and how great it is to be able to create something from inside ourselves. Every student was encouraged equally. At first, I was nervous in a class with mostly boys. They liked drawing superheroes, and I felt like Superman didn’t quite speak to me, so I started drawing ducks, cats on roller skates, and characters I wanted to draw. This taught me that my interests mattered too.

When I was twelve, Al invited me to draw for a bunch of kids at the Long Beach Library in New York. I got there and realized that I could draw on the spot. I had watched Al create characters out of nowhere, but I never thought that I could draw something good, especially in front of fifteen other kids. He encouraged me to keep drawing into my teenage years. This is a time when a lot of kids stop drawing comics. Al’s message to me was to believe in my art. He had me draw at the library to teach other kids they could draw too.

I called Al this past summer after finding him on the internet. We spoke for over an hour. He told me about a few of his students during our class: where they are today, and how they are still making comics, illustrating books, and teaching. He said how proud he was of all of us. When I told him that I am now teaching comics, it was the one thing he cared about most. He especially taught me that having a talent is a wonderful thing, but sharing that talent is even better. Our passions and our love for what we do are always best when shared.

In essence:

1. Cartooning helps self-esteem by encouraging students to create the world they wish to see, and the subject matter that suits them.

2. Cartooning is always FUN. When life is hard or you feel awkward in other areas, it’s a way to feel relaxed.

3. You can improve your cartooning skills, simply by making cartoons often.

4. Sharing cartoons with others is more fun than keeping your drawings to yourself.

5. Your lines get better with time and less shaky.

6. Your teachers care about you just as much as you care about them.

7. You can become a lot better at cartooning if you focus on yourself and don’t compare yourself to Marvel comic artists

8. Comic artists draw all types of subjects.

9. Believing in yourself and in your art go hand in hand.

10. We always remember our greatest teachers and strive to be like them, no matter how old we are or where we live in the world.

]]>http://www.caragoldstein.com/art-classes/ten-things-i-learned-from-disney-animator-al-baruch/feed/4Cartooning Bloghttp://www.caragoldstein.com/art-classes/testing/
http://www.caragoldstein.com/art-classes/testing/#respondFri, 06 May 2011 19:21:14 +0000http://www.caragoldstein.com/?p=110I was asked yesterday… “Is it difficult to learn how to make comics?”My answer:

1- Cartoons are basic shapes: The head of a character is made from (a circle, square, triangle, rectangle etc.)
2-The materials needed are simple: Pencil, Paper, Ruler, Sharpie, Set of Markers